


March of the Wild Roses

by Aradellia



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: College, Damien and Mary are siblings theory, Falling In Love, Gen, Multi, Pre Canon, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 18:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11629299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aradellia/pseuds/Aradellia
Summary: It was him and his sister against the world.He and Mary had been inseparable since she helped him escape, and let him live as he wished. They were sharing a comfy two bedroom apartment a walking length's away from their college, kept afloat by the support of their parents, and given life by how finally, finally, he could truly feel like the man he was.It was in the spring of his third year that wild roses bloomed.





	March of the Wild Roses

**Author's Note:**

> I've been brainstorming and throwing ideas and headcanons around with my friend for the past few days because I can't stop thinking about Damien and that theory that Mary and him and siblings. So I'm going to be finally write it all out and share it with all of you.
> 
> Quick note: In the Victorian Era, Wild Roses were regarded to mean 'pleasure and pain'.

Damien glanced down to the clock on his computer, rubbing his bloodshot eyes in a futile attempt to keep away the exhaustion making his eyelids droop.

1:32 am.

It was hour five into his marathon of essay writing, and he couldn't make himself believe that the clock was correct at this point. He couldn't tell if there was light out or not since their blackout drapes were drawn shut and he thanked whatever was listening that they were, but also cursed them because all he had to see in the dim of the living room he sprawled out in was his laptop and he was seeing spots in his vision and he was sure he would have the worst headache in the world if he dared go to sleep. He blindly groped the ground around him for the pringles can he knew was there, finding it after almost knocking it over, and popping a few chips into his mouth. He made a quick note on his computer, on a small post it note, to buy something different for all-nighter midnight snacks, as much as pringles would tide him over for the time being.

Once he cleared his throat of lingering pieces of chips with a quick chug of water, he reopened his document, pouring over the first few pages he wrote, beginning the process of editing and marking all the mistakes and things he could change. It was a huge essay, and having a first draft would be good, considering the paper was supposed to be at least six pages long. Luckily, his English professor said it could be on anything they wished, so he would knock his essay on Victorian era flower language out of the park. He loved flowers, he loved the complex meanings behind each petal and stem. He loved that everyone in the world had a different meaning for the same flower. From the Japanese' _Hanatokoba_ to the Victorian Era and their use of nosegays to express their emotions, flowers were a passion of his.

The living room smelled of wild pink. It meant 'hope' in the Victorian Era, and it was a good motivator every day he walked from his room into the living room.

Focus, focus. He had a lot of editing to do to his first draft before he could begin on the final. He knew pulling an all-nighter was a little overboard, since he had three weeks until the essay was due, but he didn't wish to miss this chance to expound on the subject.

One must be perfect when speaking on the importance of certain flowers for certain meanings.

He pushed his earbuds back in, queued up his next low volume orchestra song, and pushed on with editing. He could already see some word choices that he could make stronger, rearrange the first few sentences of his first paragraph, highlight that to edit it later...

"Dames."

Damien looked up, feeling the tap of a finger on his head and hearing his sister's nickname for him, finding the sister in question looking down at him in concern. She was sporting a concerned frown, dressed for bed, recently dyed brown hair mussed up from sleeping.

His expression was innocent, unconcerned for the rather stupid move he made with pulling an all-nighter.

"Hi, sis."

Mary sighed softly, moving to round the couch Damien had claimed. Damien rolled his neck as she moved, following her movement as she took a spot beside him. She picked up his half empty Pringles can, shaking a few chips out for herself.

"How long have you been writing, Dames?"

Damien blinked slowly. He looked to his computer clock.

3:22 am.

"...almost seven hours."

Mary's expression didn't shift, as it probably should have. Damien could tell she wasn't happy, she worried constantly. It was cumbersome sometimes, but he wouldn't trade anything in the world to change how much Mary worried for him. She set the can down on the table, out of his reach. She leveled her stare at him, shielding the annoyance behind worried eyes.

"Save your work and get some sleep, Damien," she says quietly, as if not the disturb the quiet of the night, "You're going to get bags under your eyes from staring at your computer."

"And a headache," Damien added with a chuckle.

He knew she was right. He really needed to save his work, shut it down, and get some sleep. He stretched his arms up, whining as he felt his shoulder blades shift a little, settling his arms to his sides. He pressed save on the document, named it quickly, and shut the lid of his computer to his sister's relief. She pats his head in approval, something that dates back to their childhood, and stands again. She adjusts her shirt, making sure it wasn't too low on her chest, and stretches her arms above her head for a moment. Damien stands slowly, groaning as the headrush hit him hard, gripping the worn arm of the couch to let his vision clear. He earned a knowing look from Mary before he moved toward the bedrooms.

"Dames, wait."

"Hm?"

He turns to find his sister picking something off the ground from around the couch. It takes him a moment to realize what it was in the dark of the house, nodding as he comes back to get it from her.

"I know you don't like leaving them all over the place," Mary says, handing off the binder to him with a smile.

"Thanks, Mary."

"Now," Mary states firmly, pushing on Damien's back and getting him moving to their respective rooms, earning a soft roll of laughter from her brother as they moved down the small hall to their doors, "Get some sleep, you vampire."

"I take offense to that," Damien says with a playful pout, "A vampire would not be able to pull off a seven hour writing marathon on flower language and somehow keep their eyes from going blind."

Mary finds herself chuckling as Damien pauses, almost for dramatic effect before his pouts and he's grinning. "That and vampires wouldn't eat pringles like I do."

"So you're a special pringles vampire." Mary teases, opening her door. "Goodnight, Damien."

"Goodnight, Mary." Damien followed suit, opening his door and waving Mary goodnight before slipping into his room. He turns on one of his bedside lamps (after ending up tripping on something on his floor, which was a book he would later find), and puts away his binder before flopping onto his bed, making it groan for a moment under his weight. He crawls up to his pillows and shimmies himself under the covers before reaching over to his lamp and turning it off, taking a moment to look up at the ceiling. Quickly, he remind himself to set an alarm, ensuring the alarm clock on his other nightstand was set for nine. He had no classes for tomorrow, but he wanted to make sure he was awake to do something. He had done a lot for his paper, and it meant it was a free day.

A free day to do what, he didn't know exactly yet, but for now, he would do as asked, and as he should, and settled in for the night.

* * *

He wandered out of his room at nine to the smell of butter, his mood improving as he got closer to the small kitchen and was met with the smell of honey and maple syrup and Mary's special made 'strawberry college pancakes'. It was just fancy pancake batter and fresh strawberries but they were made special with honey and sugar and she always makes sure they're fluffy. He sat down at the small bar that separated the kitchen from the living room, patting the marble counter as a plate was handed off to him.

"I can see my professional cooking has drawn a crowd." Mary said cheerfully, putting the spatula and frying pan she had used into the sink to be cleaned later. She hops up onto one of the bar stools at the bar with him, handing off butter, a butter knife, and the syrup for him. He happily slathers his in syrup and digs in.

"My compliments to the chef," he says with his mouth half full, wiping his lips with the offered napkin from Mary before continuing to eat happily. Mary seemed to have eaten before him, at least from how she didn't eat with him, but he didn't mind it.

"What are your plans for today, Dames?"

He pauses to swallow the mouthful of succulent pancakes before answering. "I don't know yet. I know you have your lit class at noon, though."

"Indeed I do," Mary hummed thoughtfully, "I guess that means do you want to do something at one or something? I heard some of the kids from your neck of the woods-"

"Come on Mary," Damien said with a roll of his eyes, "Get with the times. Those of us in _computer tech_ -"

Mary rolled her eyes just as hard. "Fine. Some of the other techheads are going to be setting up something in the east courtyards later, something about a robotics fight. Figured it would be at least interesting to watch."

Damien perked up, pointing his fork at her. "I heard about that! Some of the girls from the robotics team wanted to show off some new prototype they finished coding. If I recall, I heard something about fire."

"That settles it then, you're coming with me to watch." Mary declared. Damien chuckled and continued to eat, agreeing to the plan through bites of his breakfast.

Breakfast was swift, and cleanup began for Mary as Damien ventured to the bathroom for a shower, a quick brush of his teeth, and a glance all over his face in case pimples dared revealed himself. He had a few minor marks that he couldn't do away with, though he did apply some of the acne medicine he picked up once the acne began to set it. Once satisfied, he ventured back into his room to clean up a little more and get dressed. He figured he could find a place at the library to settle in before joining Mary at one for the robotics showcase.

He shucked off the clothes he slept in, tossing them in the designated 'needs washing' corner of his room for now. He dug out a pair of briefs and one of his lighter pair of jeans, knowing it would be at least decently hot today. He picked out one of his thinner binders to avoid any issue with the heat, and one of his looser shirts. While he wasn't standout, many of the people he hung out with knew already, so he wasn't too afraid to go out in public like this. Once dressed, he packed up his computer, made sure to grab his wallet and keys, and walked out of the apartment with Mary. She rattled off about something involving her calculus class, something about one of the kids giving the professor shit over a question. He was amused as always, giving his own example of the bullshit that happened n campus, involving one very interesting student in his coding class who decided to code a program for a dildo, and actually turned it in as an assignment.

Their college campus wasn't something so huge that people has to routinely run their asses off to the next building, but it was fairly big. There were multiple buildings, some dedicated to certain classes and majors, as well as dedicated athletics center. Damien and Mary split off in the north courtyard, since the library was in H hall, while Mary's upcoming class and normal hangout spot before and after class was in C hall, closer to the eastern courtyards. 

The library and the connecting little food court in the H hall was thankfully silent, and not as filled as he first thought. He got himself a small tea before settling into one of the cushier chairs in the library, setting up his computer, and reopening his paper he figured he could fit in a little bit more time to edit it and prepare for the final draft. Editing wouldn't take too long as long as he didn't right absolute crap for seven hours, though the results looked promising from pages one through three. He didn't quite remember what he did for four and five, so he just hoped that it wasn't keysmashing followed by various moments where he was eating chips.

"Excuse me."

Damien looked up from his work, glancing up at the man who had interrupted his focus. He was well put together for a Friday afternoon on campus, dark brown hair swept back behind his ears. His clothes were plain and distracting, a simple pairing of similar articles of clothing, but it added to the odd charm around him. Whoever he was, he had cute little dimples in the nervous smile that was flashed at Damien, and he seemed to have some sort of tattoo just underneath his shirt, at the junction of his neck and shoulder.

"Can I help you?" Damien asked, quickly saving his work before turning his attention to the kind of cute dimple man.

"Are you Damien Bloodmarch?"

Damien blinked slowly but nodded, turning in his chair to fully face the dimple man. "I am. Is there something you need?"

The man cleared his throat before answering Damien. "A friend of mine from your coding class told me you could help me solve some bugs with the code for a machine I'm programming. It's... pretty simple but it's got some complex actions that I can't, for the life of me, iron out in the coding. He recommended you and... c-can you help me, Damien? It's okay if you can't, I can see you're working on a paper-"

"I can do it." Damien didn't hesitate to accept the challenge with a smile. His paper was as good as done, he didn't need to worry about it much anyway. This cute man with soft dimples and a worried look in his eyes was something new and interesting, plus he got to fix and alter some code.

The dimple man seemed shocked at the sudden acceptance, smiling in relief and happiness.

"You will?!"

Damien nodded, smiling wider for the man. "Absolutely. Though, before I get started on your code issue, may I know your name?"

"My name?" the man seemed just a little phased, but he got it together. He bowed to Damien, his smile portraying a million and one meanings, a warmth Damien couldn't decipher. 

"My name is Lucas Galloway. It's a pleasure to meet you, and have your help, Damien Bloodsmarch."

He was a gentlemen. An absolutely cheesy gentlemen with cute dimples.

Lucas looked at Damien curiously as Damien stood, taking himself out of his bow. It was then that Damien bowed, not as low as Lucas, and then offered his hand to him. Damien took the moment to see that he was the shorter between the two, by a fair few inches.

"The pleasure is mine, Lucas Galloway. Now, let's see this coding of yours."

Lucas smiled, a flush of soft pink against freckle-dusted cheeks and dimpled corners of his lips. He took Damien's hand briefly and then swung a chair to the table Damien had set up on.

"Let me get my computer booted up."


End file.
